Category Archives: Religion and Culture

The Satanic Temple — the technically non-religious group whose goal is to tamp down religious expression through ridicule — is now the object of ridicule itself, as it sued Netflix and Warner Bros for using an apparent copy of its Baphomet statue:

The organization filed a complaint Thursday saying its copyrighted statue design, known as Baphomet with Children, appeared without its permission in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, a new streaming series released on Netflix last month.

Notably, the organization explicitly stated what the purpose of the statue is: Read more

A web article recently cited “Christian pastor” Liam Hooper — whom it identified as transgender — as proposing an alternate philosophy on how transgenders should be viewed in the Christian faith:

He [sic] had this message for trans people of all religious faiths who are serving in the military.

“You are — each of you — individual, beautiful and beloved images of God…beings God imagined and anticipated in the creation of human beings. You, in all of your personhood, speak to a God who affirms that there are as many images of God as there are now, ever have been, or ever will be human beings,” Hooper said. “You are beautiful. As you are. And you are loved.”

It is true that all men and women are created by God in the image of God. That is Read more

Last month, it was my privilege to attend the annual conference of the Restored Hope Network (RHN) in San Diego. The Restored Hope Network is the nation’s largest umbrella organization for Christian organizations engaged in “transformational ministry” with those who suffer from unwanted same-sex attractions (SSA)…

I was struck, however, by the sharp disconnect between what the protesters assumed was actually happening in the conference and what was actually happening there. As just one example, critics of “sexual orientation change efforts” (SOCE)…often charge that such programs damage participants by instilling “shame” in them. The truth is the exact opposite—participants come into SOCE with shame, and a key goal of the counselling is to overcome and remove that sense of shame…

USAA pulled its advertising after an uproar surrounding FoxNews personality Sean Hannity — and then reversed course after its members complained:

USAA released a statement confirming it had reinstated its Hannity advertisements as a result of the outcry.

“We heard concerns from many members who watch and listen to these programs.

“Our goal in advertising has always been to reach members of the military community who would benefit from USAA’s well-known commitment to service.”

Kind of makes you wonder how those same conservative Hannity supporters would feel to know USAA has become an annual sponsor of Ashley Broadway’s AMPA gay gala. The annual party’s sole purpose is Read more

Lest we jump the cliff too soon: Movies can be what families make of them. Some families may watch material with potentially objectionable content or storylines for the purpose of using them as educational tools for their children. Others may not, others may not even stop to think about what they (and their children) are watching — while still others may simply not care.

But near the end of his article Van Gorden does make a very good point about the recent and controversial live-action version of Beauty and the Beast:

Disney has written only a handful of new elements into the movie to make it more progressive. There is no actual homosexual activity or conversation (this would still be too offensive to most parents).

However, there is a specific objective to normalize homosexual activity so that, one day very soon, the God-ordained family structure will be so undermined they will be able to promote openly this LGBT agenda to our children.

In other words, homosexuality was inserted just enough to be noticeable without Read more

Evangelicals have confused Christ’s command to love others with being likable, as if that were an attribute of God. (It isn’t.) As such, they endeavor to be, above all else, inoffensive and polite. This doctrinal malpractice has given us a generation of men who are what Lewis called “men without chests…”

I urge you instead to be offended by the way our God’s name is blasphemed in our country every day; by the 54 million children murdered in the holocaust of abortion since 1973; by the sordid sexual agenda that is eroding the very fabric of Western civilization; by the Read more